Breakdown: It could be argued — and Steve Willits, the play-by-play announcer for MLTnews.com’s web broadcasts of Hawks’ games, did so after Saturday’s loss to Stanwood — that the Hawks got a better matchup by losing the district championship game than winning it. Instead of facing Metro power Franklin, the Hawks got the No. 3 seed from District 3/4. But that team, Foss, is no slouch. The Falcons lost just five games this season, two of them to third-ranked Lincoln, and have an imposing figure inside in Dezmyn Trent. Foss, which lost to Kamiakin in the regional round last season, took second behind Lincoln in the 3A Narrows League and only missed out on the district championship game because of a strong effort in the semis by Timberline, a team the Falcons beat twice during the season. The only common opponent between the two teams — Lincoln — is a checkmark in the Terrace column. The Abes, who beat Foss twice, needed a late comeback to edge the Hawks by one point back in early December.

Breakdown: For a second straight season the Grizzlies will take on Rainier Beach in the state regional round. The Vikings knocked out Glacier Peak with an 87-51 win a season ago. This year, the No. 1 ranked Vikings come into the game with a record of 21-4 and are coming off a 72-65 loss to No. 4 Lakeside in the Sea-King 3A district championship. Glacier Peak comes into the game with a record of 19-5. The Grizzlies lost 62-58 to Stanwood in the 3A district 1 tournament semifinals, but came back with victories over Shorewood and Oak Harbor to secure third place in the tournament and advance to regionals.

Glacier Peak will win if … Dreu Vader and Ramsey Rosales score in double digits to take some of the offensive pressure off of Zach Pederson, the Grizzlies hit their 3s and the team plays sound defense against the athletic Vikings.

Breakdown: Franklin finished the regular season at the top of the Metro-Valley league, going 11-4 in the Metro conference. Franklin opened the season with nine straight wins, including a victory over a team from Las Vegas (Canyon Springs). In the Sea-King district tournament, the Quakers — who are led by Metro league first-team guard Patrick Ball — defeated Bellevue in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual-runner-up Rainier Beach in the semis. Franklin then lost to Mercer Island 62-48 in the third/fourth place game. Stanwood finished the regular season with a 12-1 record against Wesco 3A teams, its only loss coming against Mountlake Terrace. The Spartans defeated Terrace 47-43 in a rematch — which happened to be the District 1 title game — to earn the No. 1 seed out of the district. Josh Thayer scored 17 points in the title game and Wesco 3A North leading scorer Cannen Roberson is averaging 16.3 points a contest.

Breakdown: The Enumclaw Hornets were the best team in the SPSL 3A, losing only one league game to take the regular season title and earn the No. 1 seed in the District 3/4 tournament. But the Hornets lost a semifinal game to defending champ Prairie after the Falcons finished the game on a 20-10 run to win 52-42 and earned a third-place finish after beating Kelso 49-48. Glacier Peak, meanwhile, was the No. 1 seed in the District 1 tournament but lost to Everett in the championship game. But not all things are bad as the Grizzles got a home game with the regional games slated to be played at Glacier Peah H.S. Glacier Peak will have a decided height advantage with Taylor Baird (6-foot) and Nicole Fausey (6-4) both taller than anyone on the Hornets roster. Enumclaw is led by guard and leading scorer Julia Myers and 5-11 post Danielle Saltarelli, who scored 17 in Enumclaw’s loss to Prairie. The only common opponent between the two teams is Mountlake Terrace, who Glacier Peak beat twice by an average of more than 23 points. Enumclaw had to come from behind to beat Mountlake Terrace 52-45.

Breakdown: No. 5 ranked Seattle Prep is coming off a disappointing 37-36 loss to No. 2 ranked Cleveland in the Sea-King 3A district championship game. Seattle Prep comes into the game with a record of 20-5 with three of those losses coming to Cleveland. The Panthers feature a balanced scoring attack that has four players averaging between eight and 11 points per game. Stanwood competed in one of the most difficult district tournament brackets in the state, the 3A district 1 tournament, and placed third. The Spartans suffered a 59-51 loss to the eventual district champion Everett in the semifinals, but recovered to defeat Shorecrest and Shorewood to take the third seed from the district into regionals.

Breakdown: Mercer Island comes into regionals with a record of 20-7 overall, with four of those losses coming against Kingco 3A/2A rival Bellevue. The Islanders fell to Bellevue twice in the regular season, once in the Kingco postseason tournament’s championship game and then again in the Sea-King District tournament third/fourth place game. Mercer Island’s only other loss in the postseason was to Cleveland which, like Bellevue, is a top 10 team in the Associated Press poll. The Islanders’ No. 4 seed earned them a game against the District 1 champion: Everett. The Seagulls went a perfect 3-0 in the district tournament, knocking off Shorewood and a pair of No. 1 seeds (Stanwood from the Wesco North and Glacier Peak from the South). Everett is led by a pair of sisters, Sidney and Darian Rielly, who combined to score 55 of the Seagulls’ 68 points in the district championship against Glacier Peak. Mercer Island, which has rebounded after a 5-15 record last season, is led by Kingco 3A/2A first teamer Kris Brackmann. The senior guard/forward averages 12.7 points per game and 2.1 steals per game. She is also second on the team in rebounds. Sidney Rielly is averaging 23.1 points per game for Everett. The junior scored her 1,000th career point in a playoff game against Stanwood, just the 58th game of her career, giving Rielly a career average of about 17.5 ppg.